In July 2025, the Greater Manchester Migrant Destitution Fund, in partnership with Equal Education Chances, held a community consultation with families experiencing destitution because of their immigration status, to understand barriers to accessing statutory support.
Key findings were:
- Barriers to accessing social services support include unawareness, fear, and gatekeeping
- People face barriers regularising status, including difficulty accessing legal advice, delays in decisions, high visa fees, and fear of the asylum system in particular.
- People also face barriers accessing healthcare because of their status
Participants wanted to see:
- Engagement from social services to raise awareness and dispel fears
- Being given the right to work by the Home Office while waiting for a decision on an application for leave to remain
- Continuation of MDF’s grants programme
- Information about the immigration system
You can read the full write up here.
November 2025 - UPDATE: In response to participants' calls for transparent information, we convened an information session with presentations from Right to Remain on how to use their Toolkit on the immigration system, GMIAU on access to social services support, and Patients Not Passports on healthcare entitlements.